The state government on Monday asked private hospitals to scale up their Covid beds to a level that would be 25 to 30 per cent more than they had at the peak of the epidemic last year.
The government also suggested that the hospitals consider shifting the outpatient department (OPD) to any banquet hall and use the space to add Covid beds.
The hospitals have also been requested to defer elective surgeries for two weeks and open more satellite units for Covid patients with mild or no symptoms so that critical patients are not denied hospital beds.
The government made the requests to the hospitals at an online meeting attended by chief secretary Alapan Bandyopadhyay, West Bengal Clinical Establishment Regulatory Commission chairperson Ashim Banerjee and senior officials of the state health department.
“The private hospitals have been told to have 25 to 30 per cent more Covid beds than what they had at the peak of the pandemic last year. The hospitals have been advised to keep on hold planned surgeries for two weeks,” said Banerjee.
If planned surgeries are put on hold, the beds that will be freed can be used to treat Covid patients.
Hospitals in and around Calcutta together had 5,500 Covid beds at the peak of the epidemic last year, an official of a private hospital said.
Various measures that can help increase Covid beds at private hospitals were discussed at the meeting.
“The private hospitals were advised to shift their OPDs to a banquet hall or a marriage hall near their hospitals. The space in the OPDs can then be utilised to set up Covid beds,” Banerjee said.
Several private hospitals in the city have increased their Covid beds in the last one or two weeks but that proved insufficient given the surge.
Belle Vue Clinic had 171 beds on Monday, 37 of which were critical care beds. The hospitals will add 21 more beds within a week or two, said an official.
The RN Tagore International Institute of Cardiac Sciences (RTIICS) had 110 Covid beds on Monday, 48 of which are critical care beds. The hospital has plans to add 51 Covid beds in a phased manner over the next fortnight.
“The hospitals were also advised to set up more beds in satellite units,” said Banerjee. An official of a private hospital said that if Covid patients with mild or moderate symptoms were treated at satellite units, then more beds for critical patients would become available in the hospitals.
“In the coming days, options like setting up beds in parking spaces may have to be explored,” said Rupak Barua, the president of the Association of Hospitals of Eastern India and the group CEO of AMRI Hospitals.
AMRI Hospitals, he said, have already set up 150 beds in satellite facilities. Belle Vue Clinic and the RN Tagore hospital have set up 48 and 24 beds at their satellite units.
The state government has also decided to set up a quarantine facility at Uttirno auditorium in Alipore. It will be run jointly by Covid Care Network, a voluntary organisation of doctors, health officials and Covid survivors, and the Calcutta Municipal Corporation.
A quarantine facility for contacts of Covid patients has been set up at Kishore Bharati Stadium in Jadavpur.
Covid count
The total number of active Covid-19 cases in Bengal rose by 3,780 on Monday, to 53,418. The state recorded 8,426 new infections and logged 4,608 recoveries during the day. While Calcutta recorded 2,211 new infections, North 24-Parganas reported 1,801.
Of the 38 deaths reported on Sunday, 12 were from the city and nine from North 24-Parganas.
